Book Covers—Monochromatic

You will create covers for books you read in English class. Each of the covers will be MONOCHROMATIC (one color family), 400px W x 600px Ht, and saved as a JPG.

Create a folder in your Documents folder. Name the new folder 2lastnamebooks/ 3lastnamebooks.

Inside that folder you will place one book cover for the Odyssey, and 3 book covers for a book (of your choice) that you read in English class in the last two years (all JPGs).

THE ODYSSEY

You will create a new Photoshop file 400px W x 600px Ht. When file is complete it will be named “2lastnameodyssey.jpg.”

First do a Google image search for “Odysseus” — that’s the main character in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” You can also search for “Ancient Greece,” “Map of Greece,” or any specific scene from the story of Odysseus’s journey.

Insert your images into the new file.

Mr. Machtay will show you how to remove the colors from the image (image > adjustments > desaturate).

Then Mr. Machtay will show you how to apply a new color to the image (image > adjustments > color balance).

Screen uses RGB Color (Red-Green-Blue). Note that Cyan (Green + Blue) is the opposite of Red. Magenta (Blue + Red) is the opposite of Green. And Yellow (Red + Green) is the opposite of Blue. (We will learn more about the RGB Color Wheel Spring semester.)

Choose a color to use for the Odyssey book cover. You can combine colors at different settings. For instance: Cyan at 50, Blue at 25. The story of The Odyssey takes place on water. This greenish-blue color suggests water.

Place the words “The Odyssey” in a prominent place. Make sure the words are easy to read. Make sure the words are not covering an important part of a picture. Then place the words “by Homer.” The author’s credit should be smaller than the name of the book. Once again make sure the words are well placed in your design.

Save your file as a JPG (2lastnameodyssey.jpg) and place in folder (2lastnamebooks).

3 BOOK COVERS—Monochromatic (one color family)

Now choose a book you read in English class sometime in the last two years. (It cannot be Manga or a picture book!)

Search for pictures for your book cover. You must NOT use pictures from a movie version of the book (unless you get permission from Mr. Machtay).

On each of the book covers you design, combine at least two pictures. Be careful with placement of the book title and the author’s name. Make sure they’re easy to read and not hiding an important part of the image.

Save each completed book cover as a JPG. (2lastnamebook1.jpg) Place into your folder (2lastnamebooks).

PLEASE NOTE: Don’t search for the name of your book! If you do a search for “To Kill a Mockingbird” you’ll get pictures from the movie and book covers. What are the elements in that book you can search for? Black Man, White Lawyer, Southern Courthouse, Lynching. Don’t search for “Animal Farm.” Search for photos of pigs, horses, etc.

IMPORTANT: You have learned FILTERS, LAYER STYLES, LAYER MASKS, CUT-OUTS. You have also learned PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LAYOUT. Show what you’ve learned!

Curriculum Links

Why Computer Art? Why Media Arts?

One of the most in-demand college degrees employers look for is Communications & Marketing.

Workers and lifelong learners in the 21st century need to communicate information, ideas and opinions in a variety of media.

Our students need to be savvy consumers and skilled producers of media.

I teach art classes, but they are also Career-Tech Ed classes. A lot of what my students do is about communicating, working cooperatively with teammates, solving problems and meeting real deadlines to take pride in the finished products they create.